This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2005-62396, filed on Jul. 11, 2005, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal capable of receiving digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) signals and, more particularly, to a technology of allowing the mobile communication terminal to automatically access to DMB.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of mobile communication technologies, mobile carriers provide DMB services to allow users to view DMB through their mobile communication terminals. Further, the mobile carriers plan to launch terrestrial broadcasting services.
FIG. 1 is a conventional DMB service system. The DMB service system includes a broadcasting station 10, which provides various broadcast programs such as motion pictures, music video, drama and the like, a digital broadcasting satellite 20, which receives broadcast signals (14 GHz) transmitted from the broadcasting station 10 and transmits a broadcast signal of 2.6 GHz or 14 GHz bandwidth to the ground, a gap filler 30, which receives a broadcast signal of 14 GHz bandwidth and outputs a broadcast signal of 2.6 GHz bandwidth to compensate for dead spots such as downtowns, and a mobile communication terminal 40, which receives a broadcast signal of 2.6 GHz bandwidth from the digital broadcasting satellite 20 or the gap filler 30. Currently, the mobile carriers manufacture mobile communication terminals, which are so called DMB phones, capable of receiving, processing, and outputting digital multimedia broadcast signals.
On the other hand, the mobile carriers use an electronic program guide (EPG) to allow users to select and view their desired broadcast programs. The EPG includes program titles, brief remarks, and the like on a channel/time basis. In addition, a multimedia server, which transmits/receives data signals to/from mobile communication terminals over broadcasting stations or wireless data communication networks, transmits the EPG, which is periodically updated, to the mobile communication terminals.
As the mobile communication terminals are popular, it is expected that DMB services provided through the mobile communication terminals will be widely used and various kinds of programs will be provided to the mobile communication terminals. However, there is a problem in that it is very annoying for users to retrieve the EPG on a channel/time basis in order to search for their desired broadcast programs.
In order to solve this problem, a method is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0044844 (May 13, 2005) entitled “Method and apparatus for displaying digital broadcast channel information”, in which a mobile communication terminal generates broadcast channel information from an EPG, which is stored in a memory, in a broadcast viewing mode, displays the generated channel information, and allows users to select their desired programs. Accordingly, the users do not need to retrieve the EPG manually.
However, if various kinds of broadcast programs are broadcasted in the future, it will be increasingly difficult for a user to retrieve the broadcast programs only with channel information. Accordingly, when a user desires to view a broadcast program, which is currently broadcasted through TV, through the mobile communication terminal capable of implementing the above-mentioned method, the user should select channel information displayed in a display unit and check whether or not a received broadcast program is his/her desired program.